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CoffeeScript 1.2.0 served hot

CoffeeScript, the "little language that compiles into JavaScript" has been updated to version 1.2.0. CoffeeScript offers an improved syntax to JavaScript inspired by other dynamic languages, but the CoffeeScript code is then compiled "one-to-one" into JavaScript for portability; the resulting output is readable and passes JavaScript lint.

The 1.2.0 update improves the --watch switch (which monitors files for changes when it runs a command such as recompilation) and --join (which takes the resulting JavaScript from compilation and turns it into a single file) switches on the coffee command at the heart of CoffeeScript. Users can now add and remove directories from a watched folder and can use both switches together. Other changes include the ability to throw an exception as part of an expression, improvements in comment handling, and fixes for a number of regressions in the previous version (1.1.3).

CoffeeScript is available to download from the CoffeeScript GitHub site, where users will also find an introduction and reference documentation for the language, installation instructions, a guide to resources and the change log for this and previous versions. CoffeeScript requires Node.js to run the compiler and is published under the MIT licence.